Recent technological developments have allowed a number of industries to benefit from the low cost and efficient operations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). For example, the agriculture industry uses UAVs to survey land and monitor irrigation systems; the filming industry uses UAVs to capture camera shots that are not possible using conventional filming methods; and the architecture industry uses UAVs to create 3D images of properties for rendering structural landscapes.
An industry of particular importance that may also benefit from use of UAVs is the delivery industry. Many companies are beginning to realize the potential benefits UAVs may provide to the delivery industry, and are developing UAV-based delivery methods. One such UAV-based delivery method is a fully autonomous ‘point-to-point’ delivery method, where a UAV flies directly from the sender to the recipient.
However, current UAV-based point-to-point delivery methods present certain concerns in that the proximity of the UAV to bystanders, wildlife and/or physical structures along the delivery route may be undesirable due to the potential noise pollution, privacy concerns relative to drone cameras, demands associated with UAV landing space, and safety issues such as potential in-flight and landing collisions.
One solution that has been presented thus far is the use of a transfer station and system for transferring delivery containers between a UAV and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), such as that disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/416,639, the entire contents and disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. With such a transfer station and system, a UAV carrying an item for delivery may transfer the item to a UGV, and the UGV may then complete at least a portion of the delivery route along the ground, thereby avoiding concerns associated with a UAV flight path. The UGV may perform any of an initial portion, a final portion, or an intermediate portion of a delivery route, and may optionally perform only a limited ground transport after which the UGV may arrive at a second transfer station to transfer the item to a second UAV.
However, there is foreseen a potential that the demand for automated delivery services might exceed the transport capacity offered by the transfer station and system of U.S. Ser. No. 15/416,639; and it is preferable, therefore, that there be provided some means for compensating for any such increase in delivery demand.